


Home Again, Home Again

by Singe_Addams



Category: Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Angst and Humor, Children, Friendship, Gen, Heartwarming, Homecoming, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-20
Updated: 2011-05-20
Packaged: 2017-10-19 14:44:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/201986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singe_Addams/pseuds/Singe_Addams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just how did the writer of the Red Book know what Frodo's journey on that last ship was like?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Again, Home Again

_Shouldn’t they all be in bed? It’s midnight, at least,_ Frodo thought as he stood in the rain and stared at the cheery light pouring from one of Bag End’s round windows. The rain framed the rollicking scene with a yellow halo of sparks and Frodo smiled as he watched Sam’s children chase each other up and down the curving halls. How many were there? They wouldn’t hold still long enough for Frodo to make a proper count and he shook his head with amusement. Then Sam appeared and Frodo felt as if his heart had been pierced with a hot sword. Sam was the same. It had been twenty years and his Samwise had not changed at all beyond a few extra smile lines around the eyes. “It’s a very sad state of affairs if the MAYOR can’t even control his own children! GET TO BED!” Sam announced to the smial at large and he was pounced upon by at least five curly-headed reprobates.

They wrestled him to the ground to reveal, there standing in the doorway and laughing, Rosie in a white nightgown and her cornflower hair in a thick braid. _You’ve wasted a year,_ she'd said to Sam when he finally returned home. What choice words would she have for Frodo who had wasted twenty across the Sea? Frodo stood in the rain and felt every year he had spent apart from the ones he loved weigh upon his soul.

 _They’re not in bed because they’re waiting for me. Though they don't even realize it._ The thought was sudden and Frodo knew, without a hint of a doubt, that it was true. He smiled as a warm pleasure seeped through and through him. He was glad of it. He wouldn't have felt it without those 20 years gone so Rosie won't have a leg to stand on, really. Frodo took a deep breath, hoisted his bag back onto his shoulders, sloshed through a bed of petunias, and quietly let himself in through the front door, which was unlocked of course. He dropped his bag, took off his dripping grey cloak and hung it on one of the many pegs beside the door. He took off his coat and found another peg for it. He ran his fingers through his damp hair and checked his feet for mud. _You’re stalling,_ he admitted to himself and began to walk towards the light and the laughter.

A full-out tickle battle was going on and Sam’s arm was up, haplessly reaching towards the ceiling as he tried to burrow out from under half his brood. Frodo calmly walked into the fray, grabbed Sam’s hand, and pulled him to safety as he had done so many, many years before.

“Hullo again, Sam.”

 

The End


End file.
